FHSU University Communications
Internships at Fort Hays State University do more than build resumes – they launch careers. Just ask Dinah Newman and David Fretes, two recent graduates whose hands-on internship experiences opened doors to full-time roles in their fields. Whether organizing community events in Beloit or navigating healthcare management in Colby, both Dinah and David credit their internships, supported by the Dane G. Hansen Foundation and FHSU’s career development network, with helping them turn classroom learning into career success.
A few days after her May graduation from FHSU, Newman, a native of Great Bend, stepped into a full-time role as Programming Coordinator for the Hays Chamber. This position, thanks in part to internship opportunities Newman landed as an undergraduate, is where she’s “meant to be.”
Between her sophomore and junior year at FHSU, Newman was selected as a Dane G. Hansen intern, completing an internship with the Solomon Valley Economic Development in Beloit.
“That internship opened a lot of doors and helped me figure out what I wanted to do,” Newman said. “I had just switched my major from history to organizational communications. It was solidifying – I found out what I was supposed to do, which was reassuring. It was a full-circle moment.”
The internship also showed Newman the power of community involvement and the investment small communities make in sustaining the lifeblood of their organizations.
“The strength of Beloit’s community showed me the benefit of having a strong community buy-in,” Newman said. “In Beloit, my boss said you never know what you’re going to be doing. We did everything from a housing survey to get a grant. We would go out and talk to people, just trying to get buy-in and attendance at events.”
In her role with the Chamber, Newman helped organize the annual golf tournament this spring and will take the lead on that event for 2026. She will also organize the Chamber’s childcare appreciation event, membership lunches, ribbon cuttings, and sponsorship drives.
Newman gives great credit to her sorority, Alpha Sigma Alpha, for helping her develop leadership skills. She continued to stay active with the sorority, even as she worked two jobs and prepared for graduation.
FHSU’s community spirit has been an inspiration for Newman, who said her professors have always “been in my corner.”
Newman toured the Fort Hays State campus as a high school junior in 2020. Then, due to the COVID pandemic, university tours became virtual. FHSU was her only physical trip to a university campus.
“Hays felt like a very homey community, somewhere I could see myself in the next few years,” she said. “I love Fort Hays, the people, and my sorority. I can’t thank them enough for what they gave me.”
A self-professed “small-town person,” Newman sees herself staying in Kansas for the long haul. Her close ties and love for small communities give her a sense of satisfaction that she can’t imagine coming from living in a city.
Newman’s experience differs in many ways from that of David Fretes, who has been in the U.S. just over two years. Kansas is a far cry from his home of Asuncion, Paraguay, population 462,000, where he attained a bachelor’s in law. He heard of a sister state partnership between the U.S. and Paraguay where students could pay in-state tuition, so he applied to FHSU and Emporia State University.
FHSU offered a concentration in health care management, an industry in which he worked with his family in Paraguay.
“Fort Hays gave me the best offer,” he said. “I just decided to jump into it. I didn’t know much about Hays or Kansas.”
While working on his master’s degree, Fretes kept his eye out for internships and found an FHSU/Dane G. Hansen Foundation Internship opportunity with Citizens’ Medical Center in Colby.
“I always valued practical experience, as work experience helps to let you know if you would like to build your career in that particular field,” he said. “It got me interested, and I started asking some questions about internships and applied for two or three.”
He was offered an internship at Citizens’ Medical in Colby, a town much smaller than the capital city of Paraguay, which was a big change for David.
“I think accepting the internship took some boldness on my part for sure,” he said. “The only thing I knew was that I had a job and a place to stay (in the Colby Community College dorms). Those were the only two things.”
Carol Solko-Ollff helped arrange living accommodations for Fretes in the CCC dormitories, as a rental for the summer would have been difficult to find.
“It was perfect because it was right across from the hospital, and I didn’t have a car at that time,” he said.
According to Solko-Ollff, internships are a valuable part of FHSU’s international educational experience.
“We appreciate employers like Citizens Medical Center for giving an international student from Paraguay the opportunity to not only learn and gain experience in the medical field but also share their personal experience from their home country,” Solko-Ollff said.
Internships provide beneficial experiences for students, enabling them to expedite their entry into meaningful careers, according to Lisa Karlin, FHSU’s interim director of Career Services.
“David’s internship with Citizens’ Health served as a springboard for his career,” she said. “As an intern, David demonstrated he was a good fit for the organization. When given the opportunity to continue working in this supportive climate, he accepted the offer.”
“It was an amazing thing,” Fretes said. “I already knew the people at the hospital, and they were open to working around my interests. They asked me what I would like to do, or what department I would like to work in next. I expressed my interest in projects I had done in my internship and mentioned that finance and human resources were among my interests.”
Fretes now works in a blended position, mainly involving human resource duties. He said recruiting for hospital staffing positions in a community of around 5,000 people can be challenging. However, the hospital is a valuable employer for the area.
“One of the reasons I decided to come back to Colby is because they are very good people to work with,” he said. “I knew I would find a good place to work instead of going out into the unknown.”
“I had an idea about the town and the hospital. They provide a good service for the community and the employees. They try to make the employees feel welcome. I think that is very important.”
Although he has enjoyed his time iwestern Kansas, Fretes said he will return to Paraguay to serve his country and to work on some professional projects he has in mind.
“Another thing I learned here (at Citizens’ Medical) is that they invest a lot in education, continually participating in webinars or talks, always looking to improve professionally to serve their people better,” he said. “All that experience and growth will be helpful for me to take back home.”
As Newman steps into her full-time role in Hays and Fretes prepares to return home to Paraguay, both are aware of the value of their FHSU experiences and internships in shaping their personal and professional journeys. Their stories underscore FHSU’s commitment to providing real-world opportunities for its students, whether they are building careers in western Kansas or taking their skills to the global stage.